In recent years, in developing machine products or apparatuses that include harnesses, such as wire harnesses or cable harnesses, the routing paths of the harnesses are three-dimensionally designed. For example, a user uses three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) for a mechanical system to create a part model. Then, a harness support apparatus that supports the designing of a routing path for a harness is used to create a three-dimensional model (hereinafter, referred to as a “harness model”) of the harness for the part model created by the user. Furthermore, the user designs the routing path of the harness using the harness supporting apparatus while at the same time checking the layout of the part model and harness model relative each other.
FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram for illustrating the harness design support apparatus that supports the designing of a routing path of a harness. As illustrated in (A) of FIG. 12, a user sets, for example, a pass position for the harness, the tangential direction of the pass position, and the length and the width of the harness. Then, in accordance with information on the harness that is set by the user, the harness design support apparatus creates a harness model by using a spline curve or mechanical calculations. Then, as illustrated in (B) of FIG. 12, the harness design support apparatus arranges the created harness model on the part model of a machine product and designs the routing path of the harness (see, for example, International Publication Pamphlet No. WO 2004/104868, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-086842).
However, with the conventional technology for designing a routing path of a harness, there is a problem in that the workload imposed on a user increases.
A specific example of a problem for designing a routing path of a harness will be described with reference to FIG. 13. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating interference between a harness model and a part model. As illustrated in FIG. 13, when the harness design support apparatus creates such a harness model that the harness passes a pass position that is set by a user, the harness model may interfere with the part model. In such a case, the user adjusts the pass position or the tangential direction of the harness by trial and error, and the harness design support apparatus creates, in accordance with the adjustment made by the user, a harness model that avoids interference with the part model. Accordingly, when designing a harness model that avoids interference with the part model, in some cases, the workload imposed on a user may increase.